US, EU may start training and equipping Syrian rebels

The US will increase aid to the Syrian opposition, the White House has announced. Europe may follow suit by increasing aid to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The decision is expected after a key conference on Syria in Rome.

"We will continue to provide assistance to the Syrian people,
to the Syrian opposition, we will continue to increase our
assistance in the effort to bring about a post-Assad Syria,"
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a
statement.

"We are constantly reviewing the nature of the assistance we
provide to both the Syrian people, in form of humanitarian
assistance, and to the Syrian opposition in the form of non-lethal
assistance," he said.

So far the US has no plans to provide the Syrian insurgency with
body armor, vehicles or military training, Reuters reported citing
sources familiar with the matter.

Washington is however changing its policy on the conflict, and
will send “medical supplies and food” directly to the rebels,
sources said.

Earlier, the Washington Post reported that the White House is
considering sending the rebels body armor and armed vehicles, and
also possibly providing military training.

Until now, Western countries’ official support to the forces
fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad was limited to
direct contact, logistical assistance and political backing.

Several top figures in the Obama administration, including
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta and former CIA chief David Petraeus pushed for closer
engagement with the Syrian rebels last year, which would likely
include arming them.

The White House rejected the plan at the time, fearing that the
arms would end up in the hands of Islamist forces like the Nursa
Front group, which the US considers a terrorist organization. US
officials said it was too difficult to fully vet the recipients of
the proposed deliveries; that policy has now apparently
changed.

The pending shift was hinted at on several occasions as new US
Secretary of State John Kerry toured Europe recently. He pledged
not to leave the Syrian opposition “dangling in the wind,”
after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign
Secretary William Hague. The new US policy will likely be voiced
after an international conference of the ‘Friends of Syria’ in Rome
on Thursday.

A delegation from the exiled Syrian National Coalition will be
attending the Rome conference, despite earlier threats to boycott
it. The group reversed course and agreed to attend after a series
of phone calls to coalition leader Mouaz Khatib from top US
officials.

But the Rome meeting is unlikely to bring any ease to the Syrian
conflict, as international politics has always been about shifting
power - not about the people, Middle East expert Younes Abouyoub
told RT.

“If they really wanted to help the Syrian people they should
have sought a political settlement from the beginning,”
Abouyoub said. “Now we are entering almost a third year of the
conflict by continuing to fuel this conflict by bringing weapons
and money to certain parts of the opposition. And it is just
getting worse and worse.”

European advocates said the Free Syrian Army should be provided
with large supplies of munitions, including military vehicles, body
armor and night vision goggles, as well as tactical and strategic
training. This position is privately supported by Britain, France,
Germany and Italy, a European official told the Washington Post on
condition of anonymity.

London and Paris have pushed to lift an EU embargo on arms
trades to Syria. However, the ban was prolonged until at least May,
as some nations in the 27-member union have refused to lift it.

The US appears more skeptical, and is reluctant to include body
armor and training in the package, Washington sources told AP,
though it would not oppose its European allies on the matter,
sources said.

When asked Tuesday about the prospects for expanding US military
support for the rebels, Kerry said he would not speculate on the
outcome of the meeting with opposition leaders.

“We’re going to Rome to bring a group of nations together
precisely to talk about this problem,” Kerry said. “I don’t
want to get ahead of that meeting or ability to begin to think
about exactly what will be a part of it.”

The Syrian opposition relies on arms smugglers from Turkey and
Jordan, and raids on Syrian army depots, for weapons and
ammunition; rebel groups with better financial standing and more
ruthlessness end up with the best equipment. Most of the arms
funneled to Syria went to
hardline Islamists, according to a US assessment cited by the
New York Time last October.

The Nusra Front, which is estimated to have some 5,000 fighters
operating in Syria in small semi-independent groups, has to a large
degree sidelined the relatively moderate Free Syrian Army. The
groups remain at odds not only with the Assad government in
Damascus, but also with each other, holding different visions for
the future of Syria.

In an effort to boost the FSA and undermine the Nursa Front,
Washington had Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries deliver arms
to the FSA from Croatia, according to the New York Times.
Rebels said that the shipment included anti-aircraft and
armor-piercing weapons, mortars and rocket launchers.